Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Garner: Jazz fest act in Little film

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, made up of a group of brothers from Chicago, is the subject of a documentary playing at the Little on Tuesday. The group will perform at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival June 26 and 27.(Photo: Photo provided by XRIJF)

Remember Movies on a Shoestring? That was the original name of an annual three-day celebration of short films, usually by amateurs or students.

A few years ago, the event upgraded its name to the Rochester International Film Festival, but it continues to be the world's oldest, continuously held short film festival.

The fest celebrates its 56th year Thursday through Saturday at the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman House. The festival will present four different shows, at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, plus a 4 p.m. matinee Saturday.

If you love movies of all sorts — dramas, comedies, cartoons, documentaries — you'll find things here to enjoy. And, a good thing about a shorts festival, if you encounter a film not to your liking, sit tight, and in 10 or 15 minutes, another movie will be on the screen. Even better, admission is free for all four screenings (though donations are accepted).

The 28 films of 2014 include works from India, Norway, Spain, Australia, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and, of course, the U.S.A.

The American titles include Tin Cans, a poignant, well-made five-minute tale by Chris Edwards of Pittsford, about the struggles of a boy and his mom to communicate. The film was created as part of a 72-hour challenge contest by the Rochester Movie Makers, and is even more impressive considering the speed at which it had to be made.

HYPNOTIC. Fans of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival can get a head start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, when the Little presents Brothers Hypnotic, a documentary film about one of the bands coming here in June.

Brothers Hypnotic is an 84-minute portrait of the Chicago-based Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a band of eight brothers who grew up in a musical family and now work as a funky, tight and rambunctious brass band. They perform a music that's equal parts black consciousness and get-down-and-party music, putting a decidedly Chicago spin on the classic New Orleans brass band concept.

The Cohran brothers are the sons of highly regarded anti-establishment jazz performer Phil Cohran, and were raised with intense and highly disciplined musical training in jazz and funk. The film by Reuben Atlas explores the development of the young men and their efforts to continue the family's musical traditions while defining their own place.

Brothers Hypnotic is a one-night screening, part of the Little's One Take: Stories Through the Lens, the monthly celebration of documentaries, curated by Linda Moroney. A Skype Q&A will follow with filmmaker Atlas. Admission is $8.

If appropriately inspired, you can then check out the band in tent shows at the XRIJF on June 26 and 27.

NOW

THAT'S

A BET.

So here you are, on the eve of the end of the NCAA tournament, and you're bemoaning losing $3 or $10 or maybe even $100 on a busted March Madness bracket. Well, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are here to say, that's absolutely nothin'.

In a recent interview with Turner Classic Movies, Spielberg revealed that he and Lucas once made a bet about whose movie — Lucas' original Star Wars or Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind — would be the bigger hit.

Lucas was apparently nervous that his space epic would be a colossal flop. As Spielberg recounted it, Lucas said, "Oh my God, your movie is going to be so much more successful than Star Wars! This is gonna be the biggest hit of all time. I can't believe this set." So he proposed a bet of 2.5 percent of the take from the movies.

And, while it was true that Close Encounters became a hit — making some $304 million — that is still less than half of what Stars Wars did. Lucas' film earned some $775 million around the world. That means Spielberg's points, reportedly adjusted for inflation, have earned him as much as $40 million.

In reporting the TCM interview and the incident, Time magazine says Lucas made good on the bet with Spielberg, and the two remain close friends. In fact, as Star Wars and Close Encounters hit theaters, the friends escaped to a vacation in Hawaii. While on the beach there, they came up with the idea for a shared enterprise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, which of course became a lucrative, four-film and TV series Indiana Jones franchise.